The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-27


stroyed.
HUNDREDS ARE KILLED.
PARIS, May %, 10 p. m.-The Opera
Comique is still burning and no hope is
entertained of saving the building. The
fire broke out during performance and
the theater was crowded.
At the first alarm a rush was made for
the exits, but the fire spread with great
rapiditv and many persons sprang from
windows to the ground to avoid being
caught by the flames, only to meet death
by contact with the pavements. Fourteen
of the persons who threw themselves out
of the windows were instantly killed and
43 were picked up more or less injured,
some of them fatally and many seriously.
CRUSHED AND BURNED TO DEATH.
The probability that large number of
persons have been crushed to death in
the galleries and on the stairways is very
great, but this is as yet uncertain. 1t is,
however, beyond question that a great
many occupying seats near the stage
were caught by the fire and burned to
death.
BODIES RECOVERED.
PARIS, IL d, m.-Five dead bodies have
been taken out of the front part of the
theater. They were horribly burned, and
it is doubtful if they can be identified.
Two of them were those of woman and
a little boy. One of the women was
clasping the boy tightly in her arms.
Little attention is being paid to saving
the building, all efforts being directed to
rescuing the unfortunate inmates whose
cries fill the air.
HOW THE FIRE ORIGINATED.
PARIS, May 25-11:15 p. m.-The fire
originated in one of the wings, and was
caused by a gas jet coming in contact
with some of the scenery which was be-
ing shifted into position for the second
act of Ambrose Thomas ''Mignon," the
first act being then in progress. The
flames burst forth like flash of powder
and the whole interior of the theater
was almost Immediately ablaze. Ma
dame Mergollier and MN. Tasquin and
Bernard were on the stage, and so
closely were they pursued by the flames
that they Were compelled to run through
the stage entrance into the street in
stage costume as did also other members
of the company, none of whom were
given time to take away any article of
clothing other than what he or she wore.
They say that the audience can not
have escaped. The audience was of
course panic stricken, but through the
heroic and systematic efforts of the
ushers and some of the cooler headed of
the spectators they were kept moving
towards the exits without being tram
pied upon.
PART OF THE AUDIENCE SAVED.
All the occupants of the main portion
Guilty, but the flames behind the stage
soon severed the gas connections leaving
the galleries and stairways i'm total dark
ness before the upper portion of the
house was cleared, and it is feared that a
large number of persons Were left in the
upper tiers of boxes and perished The
roof fell i'm within half an hour after the
fire started.
ONE ACTRESS PERIsHES.
Madame SELLER, one of the actresses,
was in her dressing room when the fire
broke out, and being unable to make
her escape, was burned to death. All of
the other members of the company and
employees of the theater escaped with
their lives, but several supernumeraries
were injured, one of them very Sc
riously.
sIxTY-sEvEN KNOWN To BE KILLED.
The total number of persons known to
have been killed and fatally injured is
81. The building was entirely destroyed,
and it is as yet impossible to say how
many bodies are buried beneath the
ruins.
PARIS, May 26.-The bodies of the bal
let dancers who lost their lives by the
burning of the Opera Comique, last night,
are lying in heaps N the ruins of the
theater. The firemen assert that many
bodies are lying in the upper galleries.
The number of persons killed greatly ex-
ceeds previous estimates. An excited
crowd surround the ruins, which are
guarded by military Gordon. Many
distressing scenes are witnessed.
Up to 2 p. m, twenty bodies in a terri
bly, mutilated condition had been re-
covered from the ruins. The remains
were principally those of the ballet girls
and machinists. Five of the bodies We're
those of elderly ladies, and one of them
is that OF n child The firemen lowered
some of the bodies from the fourth story
of the theater by means of ropes.
By p. M. twenty more
bodies had been recovered, and
later this evening the bodies of eighteen
ladies, all in full dress, were found living
together at the bottom of the staircase
leading from the second story. These
ladies all had escorts to the theater, but
no remains of the men were found any
where near where the women were
burned to death.
The walls of the theater began falling
this evening and search for the bodies
had to be abandoned for the day.
The remains of three men and two
women were found in the stage box,
where the victims had taken refuge from
the flames. 1t is ascertaIned that many
bodies lie buried in the debris i'm the up
per galleries, from when0e escape was
exceedingly difficult.
The Government proposes to close sew
eral of the Paris theaters because of their
deficiency in exits.
The library attached to the theater was
entirely destroyed, with all its contents,
including many valuable scores. Six